Philadelphia Real Estate Blog

With the recent headlines about our economy and the current state of the mortgage industry, not to mention Wall Street, it is nice to talk about the opportunity some folks can still have to purchase their first home with the $7500 Fist Time Home Buyer Tax Credit.

I recently came across this easy to understand and well-thought out article written by a Mortgage Planner from Washington that explains a bit about the First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit.  People are taking advantage of this tax credit from coast to coast.

If you are a first time home buyer looking for, say a Rittenhouse Square condo, or an Old City Loft, give me a call at 215.521.1523 or send me an email at Mark@CenterCity.com and I’d love to show you around and help you take advantage of this great opportunity!

Mark Wade
www.CenterCityCondos.com
Prudential Fox and Roach REALTORS®
530 Walnut St., Suite 260 Philadelphia, PA 19106

Like classmates you went to high school with, some Center City Condos are loud, and some are very quiet, and rarely get any attention. They slip under the radar without being noticed. Here are our top 5 favorite condos in Philly that you may not have noticed:

The Palladium Condominiums: Located at 2138 Lombard St., this quiet six unit building has garage parking, and all units have outside space. Great Location, great units! A very nice location in the Fitler Square area with easy access to Penn and the major highways.

2217-19 Delancey Street Condos: Another six unit building on a gorgeous block. These condos in Philly sell fairly quickly, and vary is sizes and styles. Nice finishes as well. A quiet street, this lowrise condo building is perfect for many looking to live in a Brownstone styled low rise condo.

The Drake Tower: That’s right, I said the Drake. These are condos, but the building is rented out as a whole. Only about a dozen units are owned by individuals.

251 S. 24th St Condos: A very rare loft building hidden in plain sight in Fitler Square. All have garage parking, and the units are smashing! Very cool…

716-18 S. 11th St. Condominiums: Built by Tony Rufo, these tax abated units have a lot of exposed brick, a huge common roof deck, tax abatement and garage parking! Some unusual spaces in each unit- all double width!

Looking for the perfect fit in your next piece of Philadelphia real estate? Give me a call, and let’s see what we can sniff out!

Mark Wade
www.CenterCityCondos.com
Prudential Fox and Roach REALTORS®
530 Walnut St., Suite 260 Philadelphia, PA 19106

It is a rare day when I meet someone who doesn’t care about how much condo fees are for any given (say) Rittenhouse Square condo. Like saving money at the gas pump, or hitting a sale at Barney’s Co-Op, it is just something that concerns those looking to buy Philadelphia real estate.

Here are my top 4 solutions for cutting your condo fees:

1) Make sure ALL toilets in your association are 1.6 gallon, low flow toilets. Water usage, which is generally included in condo fees is a variable which can easily be controlled through proper usage. Go to your next condo meeting and bring this issue up. All new construction necessitates a 1.6 gallon flush toilet, so why not implement the rule for existing condos as well?

2) If you live in a mid rise condominium building here in Philly, and have a doorman, but are teetering on the edge of needing versus not needing a doorman, why not look into www.virtualdoorman.com (TM)? You could save a bundle, while not compromising the security of your building! I love this product, and excited to see a Philadelphia condo association implement such a savings.

3) Shop your master insurance policy around. Look at your deductible, your total coverage, and get quotes from 3 or 4 other carriers. You might be surprised at the potential savings. I find many condo associations are improperly insured.

4) Low rise condo associations that are under (say) 10 units-fire your management company, and manage in-house.  You may find that you do not need to hire a management company to do the little things that are needed of a small association. (careful here…)

If you are looking for a new condo here in town drop me an email at Mark@CenterCity.com or give me a call at 215.521.1523.

Mark Wade
www.CenterCityCondos.com
Prudential Fox and Roach REALTORS®
530 Walnut St., Suite 260 Philadelphia, PA 19106

Tell Me about your Center City Condo…..

Do you own a Center City Condo? I would love to feature your condo on my blog, as an example of what potential buyers can expect to find when they begin shopping for a condo in Philadelphia.

Your condo may or may not be for sale, and that’s OK.

Give me a brief description of your condo, what you like MOST about your unit, some interesting facts or local landmarks in your neighborhood that you favor, and be sure to send me some photos!

I would love to feature your unit for the 7000+ visitors that visit www.CenterCityCondos.com each month!

Thanks!

Mark Wade
http://blog.centercitycondos.com
Prudential Fox and Roach Realtors

2101 Market Street in Center City Philadelphia

Towering 42 stories tall is arguable one of Philadelphia’s most striking additions to the Center City condominium building set-The Murano Condominium building. Offering stunning views in all directions, the Murano Philadelphia offers one, two, and three bedroom condo units with a maximum of seven units per floor, in the 19103 zip code. According to the website, www.TheMuranoCondominium.com, you will find a 6th floor swimming pool, along with inside and outside common deck areas in which to relax. I recently visited the open house, and can attest to the impressive modern finishes, unique floor plans, and wonderful city views.  On-site parking available, along with 24 hour concierge, and a ten year tax abatement, set into the high rise business district of downtown Philadelphia makes the Murano Condominiums a great option in Center City condominium living!

Mark Wade
www.CenterCityCondos.com
Prudential Fox and Roach REALTORS®
530 Walnut St., Suite 260 Philadelphia, PA 19106

I just saw one of the neatest innovations in painting that can save you a bungle of time, energy, and money. Huge secret here…it is called Behr.com. Behr is a paint company that has developed this online service in which you can pay $4.95, and upload a photo of any particular room in your new Rittenhouse Square condominium, or Old City flat. Then you simply click through their 3700 plus paint colors, to see how that room would look in any of those colors. From eggplant, to a nice sage green, this service is the ultimate “try before you buy” idea, and I think many first time buyers/painters could benefit from such a service.

How Fabulous! If you have painted any room in your Society Hill condo in the past, you know as well as I do how easy it is to “miss” the color you were going for. Even by a little bit, a soft yellow can appear just awful- perhaps the yellow you picked is a little bold, has too much green mixed in, or is just wrong for the  lighting you have in any given room. This service is going to allow you to see the entire color, on a larger wall surface of any given room you choose, to make sure the color is right for that particular room.

And you know as well as I do, that paint cans have a tendency to gather in your closets or storage areas of your Philadelphia condo, and can generally outlive human beings in general. Just think of how many paint cans you WON’T have lingering for decades in that dark corner of your basement storage area! And believe me, this way of “painting a room” is a lot easier to do while downing a Martini or two.  Painting and drinking can now go hand in hand! Yippee!

Give it a try, and see if you don’t agree!

Looking for an easier way to buy your future condo in Philadelphia? Give Mark Wade a call at 215.521.1523 and let him show you a few condos here in Center City.

Mark Wade
www.CenterCityCondos.com
Prudential Fox and Roach REALTORS®
530 Walnut St., Suite 260 Philadelphia, PA 19106

As a longtime Philadelphia realtor, I am often asked a number of questions about various condos in Philly, and I want my blog readers to know a few things about buying or selling real estate in Philadelphia.

1) The “Days on Market” figure on any mls sheet (“DOM”) may be misleading. Sometimes sellers will pull their condo off the market for a few days, in hopes of resetting that “DOM” figure. Easily overridden by a realtor. Simply hitting the “History” button associated with that particular listing on the internet will give you a clear picture of the MLS history of that (say) Rittenhouse Square condo. So make sure you ask your realtor to show you the history of any given listing.

2) As I have said in prior blog entries and podcasts, make sure you measure the Center City condo you are going to buy to get your own idea of the square footage. Many MLS sheet omit this figure altogether, and are realtors are not required to submit such info to the MLS.

3) Parking- deeded, or assigned? Again, I did an entire blog on this issue. Many realtors will use those definitions incorrectly. Deeded means you have a separate tax bill, and you can sell the space off to anyone. Assigned generally means that the spot transfers with your title, which is not a bad thing.

4) Claims of a property being Historically Certified. Best story ever- once a prominent Center City realtor sold a Society Hill home, and claimed it was historically certified. Without being able to substantiate such a claim, when pressed, she declared the home to be “historically certifiable”. Nice. If such claims are made to you, get it in writing. Ask for documentation when writing the offer, should such a designation be of value to you.

So there you have it. If you are looking for more insight into the Philadelphia Center City condo market, give me a call at 215.521.1523 or drop me an email at Mark@CenterCity.com. I will be sure to fill you in on the information I have in my brain!

Mark Wade
www.CenterCityCondos.com
Prudential Fox and Roach REALTORS®
530 Walnut St., Suite 260 Philadelphia, PA 19106

Adding faux painted exposed brick to a living room can be easy, quick, inexpensive, and add quite a punch to any living area….especially a somewhat boring room where some wall texture gets immediately noticed. Wall texture adds depth, and can change how light “works” in any given room. And heaven knows that a lot of Philadelphia condos could use a tad more emotional punch!

I once bought a condo that had a 5’ by 7’ chunk taken out of an exposed brick wall. I simply filled empty chunk with cinder block, applied a thin wire lathe, then semi-wet mortar mix, and scarred it to make it appear to be exposed brick. I then painted the entire wall a really cool taupe color, and you could never tell that it was faux Painted brick…and it Looked Stunning!

I should have done the wall in a medium grey color. My friend once did that to his Old City condo, to a few exposed brick columns, and I thought I was going to die. It was gorgeous!

So the moral of this blog entry is…don’t worry if your Rittenhouse Square condominium, or any condo in Philadelphia lacks a bit of charm and historic detail. There is more than one way to skin a cat, and add detail is indeed possible as you go about improving your Center City loft or Society Hill condo. Have fun, and be creative!

Mark Wade
www.CenterCityCondos.com
Prudential Fox and Roach REALTORS®
530 Walnut St., Suite 260 Philadelphia, PA 19106

As the owner and operator of www.CenterCityCondos.com, I am always appreciative when someone comes to me with feedback about my site. Nine times out of ten, someone is saying nice things.

But I wonder how many people leave my site, with a bitter review that perhaps they are not sharing with me. With the help of my website designers, I came up with the ideas for the layout, menu, and content. I have added a blog and a place to listen to my podcasts. But what if a lot of what I am doing, truly sucks…and I don’t know it?!

That is where I would like EVERYONE to know that I am open to criticism. If there is something that you think could be improved, refined, added, deleted, fixed, shortened, sweetened, or altogether altered, won’t you please drop me a note, and let me know?

I average over 5000 visits to my site per month, and the average length of each visit exceeds 4 minutes! And there is just no way everyone is leaving happy and fulfilled…

If you like, take a minute, and let me know what you think. Believe it or not, the more feedback I get, the more I want to do my corny “happy dance”…

 
Thanks so much for your continued support!

Mark Wade 
www.CenterCityCondos.com 
Prudential Fox and Roach Realtors
530 Walnut St. Suite 260 Philadelphia, Pa. 19106

As a Philadelphia realtor for the past twenty years, my livelihood depends on my ability to navigate the streets, and be the ambassador of good will to those looking to move to our fair city. Not easy to do when I am cussing up a storm at “this idiot” or “that dumbass” who seems to believe that there are no parking rules, or etiquette in terms of driving in our fair town.  If I were in charge of this city, here is what I would do on my first HOUR on the job, in order to improve the quality of life for those of us who live here in beautiful Center City Philadelphia:

1) Corner of 5th and Market. Try turning left onto 5th from Market…Good Luck-traffic is backed up to 8th street on a busy day during rush hour. And restrict ALL parking within a block of that intersection at ALL times.

2) Restrict the double parking on Market Street between 3rd and 4th. Morons.

3) Cut the red light duration (length of time) on N. 19th St. at Vine. Possible good time to check your voicemail at work though. And return all the calls.

4) Provide MORE loading zones around town. Enforce time limits more effectively.

5) Time lighting sequence of red/green lights all the way along Callowhill. Though still the fastest way to get from the east to the west side of town currently.

6) Ticket the tour buses who feel that it is OK to idle for hours in any given street – turning a two lane street into a clogged, one lane pile of waiting cars.

7) Either tow ALL the cars after 3:30 on Walnut from 4th-23rd, or take the signs down – It is pointless if cars are allowed to idle in that lane. Or at least have a traffic cop shoo folks away.

8) Actually enforce the “NO parking” in the median of Broad St. here in Center City.

9) Turn Bainbridge traffic in the opposite direction, and have it head west, not east.

Feel free to leave a comment or drop me an email at Mark@CenterCity.com and let me know if there are any other traffic nightmares around here I might have missed or just let me know what you think of the ideas that I have mentioned above….or if you think we are all better off just walking around in this City of ours which has been ranked 5th in Walkability nationwide!!  

Mark Wade
www.CenterCityCondos.com
Prudential Fox and Roach REALTORS®
530 Walnut St., Suite 260 Philadelphia, PA 19106